Which Birds in Africa Can’t Fly (and Which Ones Barely Bother To)?
When people ask me about flightless birds in Africa, I bet you immediately think of the ostrich. And maybe, if you’ve been to the Cape coast, you’ll add the African penguin to the list. For the longest time, I didn’t even count penguins as birds—how silly is that? I mean, they waddle, they swim, they bray like donkeys… but yes, they are very much birds. Just not the flying kind.
The funny thing is, while Africa only has two truly flightless birds today, there are plenty of others that treat flying as a last resort.
They’re perfectly happy running, striding, or stomping around the ground, only taking to the air when absolutely necessary. So let’s meet the ones that either can’t fly or simply can’t be bothered.
The True Flightless Birds of Africa
1. The Ostrich
The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is hard to miss. Taller than most people and faster than most cars on a dirt road (well, at least mine), it’s built for sprinting, not soaring. Those wings? Decorative accessories for balance and courtship dances. Imagine weighing over 100 kg and still expecting to fly: that would be a real gym workout.
2. The African Penguin
Then there’s the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), found along the South African and Namibian coasts. These guys are comedy gold. On land, they waddle around looking clumsy, but the second they hit the water, they turn into Olympic swimmers.
And yes, I admit: I once genuinely thought penguins weren’t birds. In my defense, they don’t act like any other bird I know. No flying, no perching, just fish-chasing with flippers. But they do lay eggs, they have feathers, and they definitely deserve a place on this list. Yes, I had biology lessons hahaha.
African Birds that can fly, but Prefer Running
1. Secretary Bird
Picture a bird of prey on stilts wearing eyeliner, and you’ve got the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius). They spend their days striding through grasslands, stomping snakes like they’re in a martial arts movie. Flying? Meh. They’ll only bother when it’s bedtime and they need to roost in a tree.
2. Kori Bustard
The Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori) is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world… but “flying” is a generous word. Watching one take off is like seeing a cargo plane struggle down the runway: it happens, but it looks exhausting. Most of the time, they stick to a dignified walk across the savanna, looking like they own the place.
3. Southern Ground Hornbill
With their booming “hoom-hoom-hoom” call and flashy red faces, southern ground hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri) travel in family gangs across the grasslands. They can fly, but why bother when you’ve got long legs and plenty of ground critters to hunt? Their short bursts of flight are more “reluctant hop” than graceful soar.
4. Guineafowl
Guineafowl are like Africa’s noisy chickens (and I really thought they were just ‘African chickens’, the first time I visited Africa). Always running around in flocks, clucking and squawking, they can technically fly but only for a few frantic meters before crash-landing back into the bush. If there were a bird Olympics for sprinting zig-zags, guineafowl would win gold every time.
Hidden away in marshes, these small wetland birds prefer dashing through reeds like little ninjas. Yes, they can flutter into the air, but only briefly. Some of their island cousins in the Indian Ocean ditched flying altogether, proving once again that Africa’s birdlife never plays by the rules.
FAQ About Flightless Birds in Africa
Are penguins really birds? Yes! Penguins are birds because they have feathers, lay eggs, and are warm-blooded. They just swapped flight for swimming.
Where can I see ostriches in the wild? Ostriches roam across many African savannas, with great sightings in Kruger National Park, Etosha, and the Serengeti.
Where can I see African penguins? The best places are Boulders Beach near Cape Town and along the Namibian coast.
What’s the heaviest bird that can fly in Africa? That would be the kori bustard. It can technically fly, but it would rather walk.
My Final Conclusion.
Flightless (and almost flightless) birds show how differently nature adapts to African landscapes. Ostriches turned into sprinters, penguins into divers, and secretary birds into strutting snake assassins. For anyone traveling through Africa, it’s a reminder to keep your eyes not just on the skies, but firmly on the ground too, you never know what quirky bird behavior you’ll stumble upon!
Do you like facts about birds as much as I do? Then please leave a comment down below with your own facts or fun stories 🙂
Who am I? Well, the least you can say is that I am quite crazy about Africa, its nature, its climate, its culture, and more.
As a young woman in my twenties, I had already traveled to several African countries by traveling along in an overlander on my own and mostly camping ( or glamping ) and just fell in love with the diversity of it all.
So much, so that at the age of 26, I went back to university to study biology, which, unfortunately, I couldn’t finish because of health reasons (yes, I got sick from a tropical disease, oh cynicism). But this did not stop my dream of traveling back to Africa several times, and I still do.
My dream was back then to leave Europe and go study animal behavior, especially the elephants (sure, that’s every girl’s dream haha), but I am also very much intrigued by hyenas and other “ugly African animals“.
So, I “kind of” have a little bit of a scientific approach to my articles, when I write about African birds, for example. And most of all: the passion.
But life goes on, you move from one side of the country to the other, you get sick again and top it off with lower back problems, and before you know it, you are over 50 hahaha!
Now, I still travel to Africa, but take it a bit “easier” than the good old camping days, and stay in comfortable, yet affordable accommodations, together with my husband Wouter.
These are some of the countries I have traveled to: Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Tunisia, and a little bit of Lesotho LOL .
While clearly not being African territory, but Spanish, I also visited Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and location-wise, I consider them “African”, because of their climate and nature, sue me :-p
The last trip I took was to South Africa in the year 2023, and it sure got the fevers for Africa back! From the Barberton mountains to the Drakensberg and the Southcoast, one month wasn’t enough at all to see the whole country, so we’ll be back! At ease and with a little bit more luxury than in my younger days haha!
